FC's Knudtson Invitational this weekend as prep cross country season underway

Every prep cross country program in the Tri-County Area has their own invitational meet they host throughout the season.

And the first one every year in the Area is the Knutdson Invitational held around Fall Creek High School. That will be true again this Saturday, Sept. 13 beginning at 10 a.m. Area team involved besides the host Crickets include Augusta and Osseo-Fairchild. Also there will be Boyceville, Durand-Arkansaw, Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran, Glenwood City, Eau Claire Regis and Thorp.

But the regular season is already underway for Tri-County Area Teams and that includes meet this week Monday, Sept. 8 starting with seven-team meet of mostly Dairyland Conference schools along with Black River Falls at the Skyline Golf Course in BRF. There Eleva-Strum's boys took second, punctuating a good start for the Cardinal boys' team (there are no varsity girls runners this fall for E-S). Returnees Russell Hulett (Senior)
and Samuel Gehrke (Sophomore) are joined by newcomers John Kempf (Freshman), Nolan McConnell (Freshman), Michael Lahn (Freshman) under new head coach Nash Weiss.

"We have new coaching staff with myself (Nash Weiss) and Marty Kempf," Weiss said. "We hope to build the program and find success along the way this season. This is the first time we have had enough boys to compete as a team since I started teaching at E-S in 2023."

E-S also did well at the Brone Invite hosted by Cochrane-Fountain City last week Thursday, Sept. 4, finishing seventh out of 14 teams competing. G-E-T won the boys' meet, edging out Durand-Arkansaw 55-76 with E-S scoring 195 points and Augusta 266 to finish 12th. Individual times had the Hulett finishing 16th at 19:10 followed by McConnell, 40th in 21:01; Lahn, 42nd in 21:01; Kempf 44th in 21:03; Gehrke 59th in 22:25; Alexander Awe 66th in 22:39; Gabe Wakefield 105th in 28 minutes. With their time near the 20 minute mark, the Cardinals have room to get better and thus become stronger as a whole unit (as they demonstrated in BRF) that could contend for the DC title in what will be wide-open league meet in October that will also include a full Osseo-Fairchild squad that will be competitive with defending champ Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran the favorite.

For Augusta, Zale Pettis finished in the top 20 in 19th at 19:41 followed by Jeremy Christoph, 52nd in 22:02; Dasan Downey, 54th in 22:04; Riley Charo, 82nd in 24:45; Garrett Larson, 83rd in 24:49; and Jason Klingbeil, 109th in 30:44. Pettis, Charo, Downey and Larson are all returning letterwinners along with Thomas Troug. AHS graduated Preston Schafer from last season.

Augusta's girls finished seventh out of the 13 teams competing at the Brone Invite, The Beavers are led by state qualifier Laney O;Brien, now in her sophomore season. She finished fourth at Brone in 20:56 and teammate Sophie Bergman finished in 28th in 24:29. Viola McDonald placed 56th in 29:11; Maya Peterson 58th in 29:24; Kylie Wiese 60th in 29:46; Samantha Hanson 64th in 30:44 and Madelyne Calian 71st in 42:19. Hanson, O'Brien, Bergman are all returning letterwinners with only Roella Weiss the lone graduate.

O'Brien problem is that she's in a conference chock full of good runners like the Duellman sisters from Cochrane-Fountain City, who led them to the team title of their own meet with 29 points by finishing 1-2, and are the defending DC champs. Indy/Gilmanton would be up their too as they placed four runners in the top 15 led by Taylor Sylla but they are short a runner needed to compete as a team. If that situation is not worked out by the conference meet, AHS could be up with the Pirates in the team standings along with Immanuel and Melrose-Mindoro.

"I’m excited about the months ahead because our runners have been putting in the miles, building not only endurance but also a strong sense of team unity," Augusta's new head coach Katie Ives said. "We have a solid mix of experienced leaders and younger athletes who are eager to grow, and together that makes for a very promising season. If we continue working hard and pushing one another, we coaches believe this group has the potential to surprise people with what they can accomplish!"

Osseo-Fairchild has just one girls' runner in Alyssa Burmesch and she finished 53rd in the Bloomer Invitational held last week Tuesday, Sept. 9 in 29:06. The O-F boys have returning lettermen Orion Prudlick - 12
and Casey Bauer - 11, with only Nolan Olson having graduated. Newcomers are powering the O-F boys' team led by Drake Vojtik - 12, Noah Sullivan - 12, Emerick Korger - 11, Dalton Clark - 10, Henry Cash - 10, Kole Bratina - 9 and George Clark - 9. O-F finished ninth as a team out of 12 at Bloomer led by Vojtik, 23rd in 19:48; Cash, 32nd in 20:47.1; George Clark, 55th in 25:34.1; Dalton Clark, 60th in 26:53.9; Prudlick 62nd in 28:49.3; Korger, 63rd in 28:57; and Bauer 65th in 30:54.3.

"We're hoping to continue with strides made last season while also working to build upon our program numbers," O-F's second-year head coach Jeff Stoik said. "We expect solid leadership from the returning runners and am excited about the prospects of the newcomers. Looking forward to a fun and rewarding season."

Bloomer was Fall Creek's first meet this season with the boys finishing 10th and the girls third. Running for the Fall Creek boys were Alex Anderson 37th in 21:18.6; Marcus Coleman, 39th in 21:36.5; Weston Mielke, 46th in 22:08.5; Kaden Prock 50th in 23:54.2 and Isaac Bougie, 66th in 10 32:31.6. In the girls' race; Audrey Koehler was fifth in 21:22.4; Rylee Winsand 11th in 22:53.8; Jamie Johnston 18th in 24:22.0; Paige Anderson, 20th in 24:31.3; Emily Volbrecht, 22nd in 24:50.0; Kamryn Dahlberg, 23rd in 24:53.9 and Iris VanWormer, 24th in 25:09.1. The Crickets placed all their varsity runners in the Top 25.

Unfortunately for the Crickets they just happen to be in the same Cloverbelt Conference with one of the state's best small schools teams in Bloomer, who easily won their own meet with 19 points (Maple Northwestern was second) led by the Hartman sisters, juniors Ciara, Aliya and Briella finishing 1-2-3 individually. Koehler (11), a two-time state qualifier along with Dahlberg (11), Johnston (12), Volbrecht (10) and Van Wormer (11) all returning letterwinners. Cora Peterson and Larissa Johnson were the only departing seniors, their shoes filled by freshman Anderson and junior Winsand.

Anderson, Coleman and Prock are all returning lettermen for the FC boys with Joel Stump and Jamison Carey graduating seniors.

"This team has shown true hard work ethic, grit, and determination to get better at racing," head coach Joell Anders said. "They also show leadership and compassion towards their teammates that makes this team a class act! I can't wait to see what they do this season!"